J. R. Kortman Center for Design / Kortman Gallery

On this day, November 20th, in 1986, J. R. Kortman Center for Design opened for business. We wanted to set a positive tone for our Downtown and show how you can redefine the city center by creating an alternative retail environment with an urban and entertaining experience. Our goal has been to bring merchandise and art not available anywhere else in the city, with taste & style. We have always had high hopes for our Downtown. It's taken a generation, but the city now seems to be catching on and understanding the importance of a vibrant center city.
    We have been fortunate to have so much encouragement from so many people over the years, especially Nancy Froelich (Doc’s sister) who has worked in the store and stood by us since day one. We can’t thank her enough!
    We would also like to thank the Rockford media, especially the Rock River Times, the Rockford Register-Star, and the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau...all who have over the years helped promote our art events and unique store experience.
    Also, a big thanks to the wonderful and creative artists who have exhibited in the Kortman Gallery over the years and added so much visual excitement and cultural vitality to the  Rockford arts community.
    But most of all, a grand thank you to our loyal and entertaining customers who have shopped with us, which now spans 2 generations of adventurous, curious, sophisticated shoppers with a sense of taste & style. THANK YOU!
Doc&Jerry
    (Painting of storefront by Ken Biddle, c. 1988)

The merger of the imaginative worlds of art and design challenges artists to create original and expressive works of art in an innovative holiday group exhibition opening Friday, November 21st in the Kortman Gallery.
“Art+Design: Converging Creativity” presents multi-media works by more than 40 Rockford artists invited to be inspired by 5 inventive, unembellished functional objects designed to be enhanced by someone else.
    “Our store has always featured products with an emphasis on good design, and the gallery has consistently shown fantastic art by local artists,” said Doc Slafkosky co-owner of J. R. Kortman Center for Design and the Kortman Gallery. “We thought we would merge the creative works of both artists and designers into one stimulating and invigorating exhibition for this holiday season.”
    The artists were invited to choose among a “paper” watch, a stuffed toy monkey, a “house” candle holder, a cardboard radio, or a wooden robot puzzle figure, and transform these designer products into works of art.
    Ceramic artist and art professor at Rock Valley College Lynn Fischer Carlson chose the toy monkey designed by SUCK UK of London. “The designer provided me with an whimsical form that gave me a foundation to tell my own artistic story using the materials and techniques I normally create with,” said Fisher Carlson. “This was not only challenging, but great fun!”
    Artist David Menard, who chose the robot puzzle figure called Cubebot designed by David Weeks Studio of New York City said this exhibit has given him the opportunity to break some rules.. “The world of design is more restrictive than art,” said Menard, art professor at Rockford University. “There are no rules in art, which is a distinctive difference between these two creative disciplines. But what’s most exciting is being a part of the community of artists that are exhibiting in this show.”
    Participating artists include: Jeremy Klonicki, Sarah Bell, Michelle Dorr, John Deill, Kyle Wolfe,  Brian Hierstein, Joanne Gustafson, Matt Herbig, Corey Hagberg, Sarah Danielle Stewart, Una Ryan, Jesus Correa, Paul Pinzarrone, Drew Helge, Norm Knott, Becky Pelley, Margret Hesler-Hynes, Shari Grace, Keith Grace, Javier Jimenez, Lisa Jimenez, Maggie Thienemann, R Scott Long, Betsy Youngquist, Joe Goral, Jennifer Johansson, Lynn Fischer Carlson, Dave Menard, Molly Carter, Pam Kehoe-Peterson, Sarah Reed-McNamara, Valerie Olafson, Craig Olafson, Karen Harding, Cherri Rittenhouse, Jarrod Hennis, Britney Lindgren, Steve Pitkin, Michael Bugler, Leslie Arbetman, and Matt Vincent.
    To celebrate this exhibition the holiday windows at J. R. Kortman Center for Design will be created by ingenious concept artists Dan Gildea and Mari Rocha Gildea using the five designer objects featured in the gallery exhibit along with other store products.
    The opening reception for “Art+Design: Converging Creativity,” a holiday group exhibition of works by more than 40 artists will be Friday, November 21st, 5:30 to 10pm, The exhibit will run through January 3rd, 2015.
      The Kortman Gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford. For more information call 815.968.0123

Here are some images of the "Velvet Realms" installation by Hot Dose! a.k.a. Corey Hagberg & Sarah Danielle Stewart. See this fantastic exhibition now through November 15th on the Kortman Gallery. Enjoy this exhibition with a relaxing drink this First Friday, November 7th...master  bartender Dennis Horton will be hosting the Kortman Gallery Bar all evening. We will also be unveiling 2 new hand-painted landmark ornaments to the Rockford Landmark Ornament Collection this Friday. The store will be open until 9pm and the gallery even later. 

  

  The eye-popping art works of Corey Hagberg and Sarah Danielle Stewart can be experienced together in a collaborative installation titled “Velvet Realms” opening Friday and Saturday, October 3rd and 4th in the Kortman Gallery. Hagberg and Stewart work under the pseudonym of Hot Dose! when they collaborate their individual sophisticated street art styles into one visually dynamic exhibition.
    As expressed in the artists’ statement, the “Velvet Realms” exhibition explores the visual schemes imagined by the artists that fill a void that occurs in the mind during “transformations in life...the threshold from a nightmare to being awake, child to adult, sick to healthy.”
    Hot Dose! began creating art together in 2013. The two artists approach their work from two different artistic techniques.
    “Sarah has a very painterly style with her work,” said Hagberg. “I paint very graphically, just like I draw. I feel like our styles create a certain harmony or balance between the graphic and the more rendered imagery.”
    “Creating a collaborative work is kind of like a dance or a game of chess, where one person’s move depends on the other person’s move, and so on,” says Stewart.  “We share very similar sensibilities as far as our aesthetic preferences are concerned, which helps the process move fluidly.”
    Both Hagberg and Stewart had featured solo shows in the Kortman Gallery, but this is the first time they will be showing together in the gallery.  
    “When these two energetic and very creative artists come together they bring an excitement to art that makes for a really entertaining experience,” said gallerist Doc Slafkosky.
    The opening receptions for “Velvet Realms,” an installation by Hot Dose! (Corey Hagberg & Sarah Danielle Stewart) will be both Friday, October 3rd, 5 to 10pm, and Saturday, October 4th, 3 to 9pm.  The opening is in conjunction with Fall ArtScene weekend. The exhibit will run through November 15th.
      The Kortman Gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford. For more information call 815.968.0123 or visit jrkortman.com.
    
What: “Velvet Realms,” a collaborative installation by Hot Dose! (Corey Hagberg & Sarah Danielle Stewart).
When: Opening receptions, Friday, October 3rd, 5 to 10pm and Saturday, October 4th, 3 to 9pm  The exhibition runs through November 15th. Gallery & Store open Monday through Saturday, 10am – 6pm.
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford
Admission: Free

Our "End of Summer Sale" will be ending soon...and from now until September 30th, we're offering a special opportunity at storewide savings. When you spend $25 or more on 50%-off sale items, receive 10% off any other store puchases! A chance for big savings on some fun and colorful items on sale and throughout the store. Hurry, since this is a limited time offer.
Coming up October 3rd & 4th is Fall ArtScene. Kortman Gallery will be presenting "Velvet Realms," by Hot Dose!, a collaborative installation by Corey Hagberg & Sarah Stewart. This is an exhibition you won't want to miss!

We would like to thank everyone who helped make Rockford Art Museum’s  2014 Greenwich Village Art Fair and Kortman Gallery’s Point! Bar a smashing success! First of our all, a big thank you to our bartenders who kept the party going all weekend: Dennis Horton, Michael LaLoggia, Tim Stotz, and Dan Swanson. And our After Hours Party DJ’s Fuzz & Nof, aka Dan Minick & Eric Nofsinger...and for Point Bar lighting... Jeremy Kloinicki...sound system from Doug Campbell of Hear.More.Music.  Also, thanks to the Better Business Bureau for sponsoring our emerging artists venue...and the emerging artists Eric Fuertes, Meico Gowan, Jonathan Kuss, and Carmen Turner. A special thanks to fair chairman Scott Prine, executive director Linda Dennis and the most accommodating and enthusiastic RAM staff...and the wonderful hospitality of all the great volunteers who worked tirelessly to help keep the festival an enjoyable and exciting weekend in Rockford! And, of course, thank you to the participating artists for their creativity, colorful imagination, and passionate work.

This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, September 13 & 14, see you at the Rockford Art Museum’s Greenwich Village Art Fair! This will be the biggest fair in GVAF’s 66 year history...yes, since 1948! When you come to the fair stop by Kortman Gallery’s Point! Bar...a refreshing and relaxing cocktail bar located right in the middle of the fair on the grounds of the Riverfront Museum Park. Featured bartenders include Dennis Horton, Michael LaLoggia, Tim Stotz, and Dan Swanson. They will be mixing up Love Lemon Martinis (a GVAF classic) and Bellini Martinis along with other favorite drinks, beer, and wine.
    On Saturday evening from 5pm to 9pm, you and your friends are invited to our After Hours Party at Point! Bar...starring great music from DJ’s FUZZ & NOF. (Dan Minick & Eric Nofsinger) Art!, Music!, Cocktails!...let’s Dance! See you at the FAIR!
        Proceeds from Point! Bar benefit the Rockford Art Museum.

See you this First Friday, September 5th, for some great shopping at J. R. Kortman Center for Design until 9pm and take advantage of special prices during our End-of-Summer Sale! See the grand paintings of Meico Gowan upstairs in the Kortman Gallery and enjoy a refreshing beverage served up by guest bartender Michael LaLoggia at the Gallery Bar. The bar will be open late so you can enjoy shopping and relaxing at J. R. Kortman before or after the City Market...AND...this weekend GREEKFEST! It promises to be a fun time Downtown all weekend. Don’t miss it!

On Friday, August 8th, new works by artist, Meico Gowan, will open in the Kortman Gallery in an exhibition titled “Earth Impressions: Whispers from My Past.”

    Born in Bulgaria, Rockford artist Meico Gowan spent part of his childhood in an orphanage not far from the bucolic landscapes where goats graze the hillsides outside the Bulgarian city of Yambol. The memories of these rustic settings are the inspiration for Gowan’s paintings that are both figurative and abstract images he creates from his impressions of the world around him.

    Gowan, who also works in photography, was introduced to painting in college.
        
     “I seem to be fascinated with earthly impressions of the hillsides and landscapes around me, says Gowan. “In my paintings, I find myself exploring whispers from my past with animals like goats and other memories. Because I am a minimalist, many of my paintings will not necessarily have pictures and images easily recognized, however, they will frequently have earth tones that complement my paintings and fill a need I am trying to express.”

    “Meico is an intriguing, emerging artist new to the Rockford art scene who has studied under the tutorage of artist/teacher Leslie Arbetman at Roosevelt and Cherri Rittenhouse, professor of art at Rock Valley College,” says Doc Slafkosky, gallerist for the Kortman Gallery. “He brings an interesting and fresh artistic perspective with both his paintings and photography.”

     The Gowan exhibition, “ Earth Impressions: Whispers from My Past” will be will be on display through September 27th.The August 8th opening reception will be from 5:30 to 9pm.The Kortman Gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street. For further information call 815/968-0123 or visit www.jrkortman.com.